Tesla Motors' Bet on Home Battery Could Pay Off Big Time

The electric-car maker is pitching its energy-storage product to consumers and businesses.

HAWTHORNE, Calif. (TheStreet) -- It didn't matter that Elon Musk was late. Tesla's (TSLA) hangar at the airport here near Los Angeles was rocking and ready for batteries.

The big, hyped unveiling on Thursday night launched the electric-car maker into the energy-storage business with Tesla pinning its hopes on selling millions of its new battery units that can make a home more energy efficient or take it off the grid entirely with solar panels.

"Our goal here is to fundamentally change the way the world uses energy," Musk, Tesla's chairman and CEO, told reporters ahead of the announcement. "At the extreme scale."

In pre-market trading on Friday, shares of Tesla were up 1.4% to $229.10.

The four-foot tall, six-inch thick wall-mounted Powerwall home battery represents a new stage for the 12-year-old company that has yet to turn a profit since its 2010 initial public offering. But it's also a long-term bet that Musk can create a small market and build a profit center for Tesla, said Brian Buchwald, CEO of marketing firm Bomoda.

"It's a big opportunity," Buchwald said in a phone interview.

"The market is incredibly immature, so the question for Elon and Tesla is, do they have the wherewithal and stamina to stay with this for the next five to 10 years?" Buchwald added. "Because it will probably take that long for the market to develop."

The lithium-ion Powerwall units -- which range in price from $3,000 for 7 kilowatt-hours to $3,500 for 10 kwh -- store excess energy produced by solar panels for use when there is little sunlight or stores energy from cheaper, low-demand times for homes on the grid.